Police: 14-year-old boy lives undetected for 2 days at 24-hour Wal-Mart in Texas

Associated Press

August 13, 2014 — 5:40pm

Associated PressFILE - In this May 28, 2013, file photo, an outdoors sign for Walmart is seen in Duarte, Calif. After enduring a severe winter that chilled business, Wal-Mart is trying to lure shoppers into its stores with the biggest weapon in its arsenal: a big sale. The world’s largest retailer is offering up to 50 percent on more than 60 outdoor items such as lawn mowers and bags of mulch, starting Friday, March 21, 2014, and ending the following Saturday. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

CORSICANA, Texas — A teenager lived undetected for two days at a 24-hour Wal-Mart in Texas after running away from his aunt's home, police said Wednesday.

A store employee in Corsicana, about 50 miles south of Dallas, eventually discovered the 14-year-old boy when he was spotted stepping out from behind some boxes in the baby apparel aisle.

When the employee at the Supercenter pushed aside the boxes, a number of items were found indicating the teen had been staying awhile, Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick said.

"Normally if there's a child missing in a store we're actively looking for that child," Nick said. But it's a different matter when employees are unaware a child is missing.

"We just didn't have any knowledge that this child was missing, and certainly not in one of our stores," he said.

A teenager walking about a Wal-Mart wouldn't have caught an employee's attention, Nick said, particularly in a Supercenter that's at least 200,000 square feet with thousands of customers coming and going.

The boy pilfered food and drinks from the store and changed clothes periodically to avoid detection, KTVT-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth reported.

Corsicana police in a statement Wednesday said the boy's parents were out of town and he was staying with his aunt in Corsicana when he ran away July 28. He was found two days later at the store. Nick said he left the store when the employee spotted him, and Corsicana police found him outside.

The teen, from nearby Rice, has a history of running away, tending to hide in abandoned homes and businesses, police said.